Gyeongsang Gamyung and Ok Teo

Overview

The Gyeongsang Gamyeong and Prison Site is a martyrdom historic site in Daegu, where the Gyeongsang-do provincial office stood during the Joseon period, where Catholic faithful from the Gyeongsang region arrested during the persecutions were imprisoned and suffered in prison. It is administered by Daean Church of the Archdiocese of Daegu, and materials from the Gwandukjeong Martyrdom Memorial Hall introduce it as a place witnessing the faith of martyrs from the Gyeongsang region, including Saint John Yi Yun-il, 19 blessed martyrs, 3 Servants of God, and others.

History

[Prison of the Gyeongsang Gamyeong] According to materials from the Gwandukjeong Martyrdom Memorial Hall, the Gyeongsang Gamyeong was established in Daegu in 1601, had a prison for confining criminals, and Catholic faithful endured great hardships and died in prison here. The gamyeong prison was in Okgol inside the West Secondary Gate of Daegu Eupseong Fortress, in the area of 8 Seonae-dong, to which Daean Church belongs today. The Episcopal Special Committee for Beatification and Canonization explains that during the Eulhae Persecution (1815), the Jeonghae Persecution (1827), and the Byeongin Persecution (1866~1868), those among the faithful arrested in each town who refused to apostatize to the end were classified as serious criminals and transferred to Daegu, seat of the Gyeongsang Gamyeong, and suffered in the gamyeong prison until the final judgment and execution were decided.

[Eulhae Persecution (1815)] The Episcopal Special Committee for Beatification and Canonization explains that the Eulhae Persecution was a persecution led by local officials and others against mountain Catholic villages in northern Gyeongsang-do (Cheongsong, Jinbo, Yeongyang, and others) and southern Gangwon-do (Wonju, Uljin, and others). Amid the great famine in 1814, selfish greed by some runners and outsiders to seize the faithful’s property and grain, together with denunciations by apostates, triggered the persecution, and although arrests and persecution ended within a few months, it took about 1 years and 6 months for the Gyeongsang governor to submit his report and receive a decision on execution, so many faithful died in prison. Among the 33 people transferred to the Gyeongsang Gamyeong, those who bore witness to the faith to the end endured 20 months of imprisonment, 7 died in prison, and 7 were beheaded at the Gwandukjeong execution ground (Gwandukjeong Martyrdom Memorial Hall).

[Agatha Magdalene Kim Yun-deok] Faithful from the Noraesan Catholic village in Cheongsong were arrested around February 22, 1815 (Easter Sunday), interrogated first at the Gyeongju government office, and transferred to the Gyeongsang Gamyeong. Agatha Magdalene Kim Yun-deok apostatized under severe torture but, just as she was leaving the gamyeong gate, met Andrew Kim Jong-han, who had been transferred from Andong, and at his exhortation re-entered the gamyeong, retracted her apostasy, was beaten, and died as soon as she was dragged into prison. This was in lunar April or May of 1815, when she was about 50 years old (Episcopal Special Committee for Beatification and Canonization).

[Faithful in Prison] The Episcopal Special Committee for Beatification and Canonization records that Francis Choe Bong-han died as a martyr in prison around lunar May in 1815, Andrew Seo Seok-bong and Alexius Kim Si-u and the father and son Kim Heung-geum and Kim Jang-bok before December 9, 1816, and An Chi-ryong after December 26, 1815. Materials from the Gwandukjeong Martyrdom Memorial Hall relate that the faithful confined in prison made straw sandals by day to earn their daily food and offered communal prayer by night, deeply impressing the townspeople of Daegu. 7 people, including the brothers Peter Go Seong-dae and Joseph Go Seong-un, Barbara Gu Seong-yeol, James Kim Hwa-chun, Anna Yi Si-im, Francis Kim Hui-seong, and Andrew Kim Jong-han, died as martyrs by beheading on December 19, 1816 at the Gyeongsang Gamyeong execution ground (the Gwandukdang execution ground at Amisan). Andrew Kim Jong-han was the son of Pius Kim Jin-hu and the great-granduncle of Saint Andrew Kim Dae-geon.

[Jeonghae Persecution (1827)] In Sangju, Andong, Bonghwa, and other places, 31 faithful were arrested, and 6 who bore witness to the faith to the end were sentenced to death. Paul Bak Gyeong-hwa died as a martyr in prison on November 15, 1827 (on lunar September 27), Ambrose Kim Se-bak on December 3, 1828, and Richard An Gun-sim died of illness in prison in 1835 after enduring 8 years of imprisonment (Episcopal Special Committee for Beatification and Canonization). The three Andrews, Bak Sa-ui, Kim Sa-geon, and Yi Jae-haeng, remained long in prison without a verdict coming down from the court even after being sentenced to death, and then died as martyrs by beheading at the Gwandukdang execution ground on May 26 during the Gihae Persecution (1839). The Gwandukjeong Martyrdom Memorial Hall records that they were imprisoned for 13 years and then beheaded at the Gwandukjeong execution ground on lunar April 14, 1839, so the date notation differs by source. It is related that Paul Bak Gyeong-hwa urged in prison, “Consider this prison a place of blessed joy.”

[Byeongin Persecution (1866~1868)] Saint John Yi Yun-il (1815~1867), head of the Yeowumok Catholic village in Mungyeong, was arrested on November 18, 1866, passed through the Mungyeong government office and Sangju, was transferred to the Gyeongsang Gamyeong, and died as a martyr by beheading at the Gwandukdang execution ground on January 21, 1867, his third day after arrival. Mark Sin Seok-bok (1828~1866), from Myeongnye in Miryang, was arrested, passed through the Miryang government office, was transferred to Daegu, and died as a martyr by hanging at the Gwandukdang execution ground on March 31, 1866 (or March 18). Victorinus Bak Dae-sik (1812~1868), from Gimhae, was escorted through the Gimhae government office to the Gyeongsang Gamyeong and died as a martyr by beheading at the Gwandukdang execution ground on October 12, 1868 (all from the Episcopal Special Committee for Beatification and Canonization). The Gwandukjeong Martyrdom Memorial Hall records Simon Seo In-sun and the story of Song (1866) as prison deaths at the Gyeongsang Gamyeong during the Byeongin Persecution.

[Notation of the Gamyeong Prison Site] Materials from the Episcopal Special Committee for Beatification and Canonization mark the prison site location as the area of Seomunro Church and Daean Church at 16-gil 77, Seoseong-ro, Jung-gu, Daegu, and the Gamyeong Park side as 10-15 Pojeong-dong, and note that Mark Sin Seok-bok and James O are presumed to have been transferred to the Gyeongsang Gamyeong and hanged during the Byeongin Persecution. Materials on the same Gamyeong Park relate that in the Joseon period serious criminals were executed by hanging in the Orijeong courtyard.

Related Places and People

• Daean Church: the church that administers the Gyeongsang Gamyeong and Prison Site (Episcopal Special Committee for Beatification and Canonization).
• Daegu Gwandukjeong (Gwandukjeong Martyrdom Memorial Hall): the place where the execution ground stood where the faithful of the gamyeong prison were beheaded.
• Paul Bak Gyeong-hwa, Ambrose Kim Se-bak, and Richard An Gun-sim: blessed martyrs who died in the gamyeong prison during the Jeonghae Persecution.
• Agatha Magdalene Kim Yun-deok, Francis Choe Bong-han, Andrew Seo Seok-bong, and Alexius Kim Si-u: blessed martyrs who died in the gamyeong prison during the Eulhae Persecution.

References and Sources

1. Gwandukjeong Martyrdom Memorial Hall, Holy Sites of Daegu “7. Gyeongsang Gamyeong Prison Site”. Establishment of the Gyeongsang Gamyeong (1601), prison location, lists of Eulhae and Jeonghae prison deaths and execution-ground martyrs.
   http://www.daegusaint.org/p405/1920
2. Episcopal Special Committee for Beatification and Canonization (Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea), related holy site “Gyeongsang Gamyeong and Prison Site”. Brief lives of Eulhae, Jeonghae, and Byeongin martyrs and prison site location.
   https://cbck.or.kr/koreanmartyrs/Shrines/30
3. Episcopal Special Committee for Beatification and Canonization, photo resource “Gyeongsang Gamyeong Prison Site”. Prison deaths of Kim Heung-geum, Kim Jang-bok, and An Chi-ryong and Byeongin martyrs.
   https://cbck.or.kr/koreanmartyrs/Resources/all?no=11002786
4. Episcopal Special Committee for Beatification and Canonization, photo resource “Daegu Gyeongsang Gamyeong Park”. Faith testimony of Agatha Kim Yun-deok, report of the Gyeongsang governor, execution in the Orijeong courtyard.
   https://cbck.or.kr/koreanmartyrs/Resources/all?no=11000686